Janelle Monae Covers Essence - Why She Wears Black and White

I heard about Janelle Monae when Archandroid came out, and then I found she had a previous album which I actually preferred. I also like her look and her videos and it was pleasant to find she is on the cover of Essence for May. [See Kerry Washington on March cover]

When asked about why she wears mostly black and white, she replied;

"It's a dedication to uniformity and I'm a minimalist by heart, but a lot of it had to do with me wanting to have a uniform like the working class, like my mom and my grandmother. My grandmother had 16 sisters and brothers and they all had to share one pair of shoes. And so that's the family that I come from -- I don't ever want to be detached from that. I use it as motivation for my music and to just keep me centered, grounded and to stay on message."

What is Difference Between Relaxed and Texlaxed Hair?

Texlaxed Hair

 In the comments to my last hair post, some asked what the difference was between relaxed and texlaxed hair. I had read about texlaxing on a few blogs, and seen some videos of people who had texlaxed their hair, but I still had to ask my stylist exactly what she meant when she brought it up as an option.

Basically, she said, it was the same as relaxing, you use the same chemicals to straighten the texture of the hair. However, in texlaxing,

1. the relaxer is diluted with natural oils and conditioners,
2. it is applied strand by strand like usual, but kind of combed into the hair
3. it is not allowed to stay on long enough to completely stretch out the hair.

The result is that some of your hair is texturized, some of it is relaxed, some may even remain completely unstraightened depending on the texture of your natural hair. Below is what my hair looks like after I shampooed off the flat-ironing. I'll be sharing more posts of how I try to keep my hair healthy as time goes on.

Curvy Is Beautiful - Ma’Bello Clothier Styles Full Figured Women

I don't know how some of these PR people get our email addresses but I do receive a lot of publicity material to promote brands and such like. If I don't know you I'll ignore such emails. But I liked the pictures that came with this PR especially this top one that reminded me of the Igbo traditional outfit for the married women - two wrappers and a lace top. I think this is a skirt in the picture though.

The designs are by Ma’Bello Clothier (MBC) who makes clothes specially for fashionable curvy or plus size women. "The collection pictured here see two curvy models in stylish, figure enhancing floral patterns, African prints, silk, lacey designs and clothing accessories. MBC has special expertise in designing, fitting and styling the latest fashions to flatter the curvy woman."

Enjoy the pictures and be inspired.

Manhunt Over in Boston Marathon Bombings

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev

Earlier this evening, the Police captured Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after his brother was killed in a shooutout last night. The news broke as we had dinner and I let a huge weight off. The prospect of terror attacks is not an easy one, and it's not easier knowing America may have even more enemies that we had previously known. But it is a relief that at least one of the suspects was captured alive to yield some information and also face the family of those he and his brother killed. According to USAToday;

Police arrested the 19-year-old at about 8:45 p.m., after finding him holed up in a covered boat stored in the backyard of a Watertown residence. He was led to an ambulance and driven to a hospital, where he is listed in serious condition.
Tsarnaev's capture came two hours after Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick ended a Boston-area lockdown after a massive, day-long search of suburban Watertown, which seemingly failed to flush out the teenager.
Dozens of bystanders cheered and applauded as police left the scene.

Kim Kardashian Gets Her Divorce

Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries marriage came to an end today, April 19 after a judge dissolved it during a court hearing. It took Kim and Kris a year and a half of back and forth, he said she said, to come to this divorce settlement, and they were only married for 72 days, lol.

In was said that the delay in the Kim Kardashian-Kris Humphries divorce, though Kim's already expecting a child with Kanye West, is because instead of divorce, Kris wanted an annulment to their marriage on the grounds of fraud. Kris was going to prove in a court of law that their short-lived marriage was a sham, contracted for the sole purpose of boosting their reality show TV ratings.

Well, I guess he had no proof. Not only did Kim get her divorce, Kris gets no monetary settlement either, not even his legal fees.

Dear Myne - I'm Not the Type of Woman He Wants to Marry?

I am 28 and had been dating for 3 years. My relationship was quite steady and I expected my guy to propose when I finished service 2 years ago. My birthday, his birthday and our dating anniversary came and went by and he still didn't proposed, I presumed he was going to propose immediately I got a job, but even this didn't happen, I knew I had to do something. So, after yet another birthday, I sat him down and told him we needed to talk.

I asked him if he had any intention of getting married and when, so I will know how to plan my life and that was when I got the shocker of my life! He began by saying he used to love me but right now, he didn't think I was the type of woman he wanted to marry and after probing and probing, he came up with these excuses.

I kept secrets from him. He said he'd gone through my phone and discovered that I will rather talk to my friends and family instead of talking to him about issues that bother me. An example was the marriage issue which I'd discussed with my best friend over our BB about 5 moths ago and I didn't know he had seen it. He also mentioned an abortion I had for him over a year ago which I didn't think I should mention lest he thinks I was trying to trap him with pregnancy. I was shocked that he knew, yet, he didn't raise the issue until now. I tried to explain my reasons to him, which was that I din't want to sound desperate or come across as wanting to trap him, but he insisted that he had the right to know and would have been happy to take full responsibility of the child. He said he never forgave me for having the abortion without his consent.

The Wife Diaries - Episode One

"What do you want?" I asked him.

I was kneeling on the edge of the bed, sitting back on my heels, watching him. I cocked my head to the side in a 'I'm listening' pose. He sat back against the headboard, looking at me from under his eye-lids, shirtless in his boxers. I watched his lips as he licked them and watched the muscles in his arms flex as he put his hands behind his head. Still watching me.

"What do you want?" He asked me, jutting his chin in my direction.

I didn't answer.

"Come here"

I crawled in between his legs and sat back on my heels again. He smiled and looked at my body.

"I like what you're wearing" His voice changed, telling me of what was to come if I let it.

"Thanks. It's the one you got for me, remember?"

"I remember," He looked at my breasts spilling over the top of the peach negligee I wore and licked his lips again, this time slower.

Does Hot Water Affect Breasts?

I confess that I've never heard about hot water being a factor in the sagging of breasts or otherwise. This comment came in under the Women are better off without bras [read post].

Fortunately for me I have small breasts so I go about without but there is a question I would like to ask, how hot must a bathing water be, does hot water have effect on breasts?

When I was younger, the debate on having perky breasts was centered more around how often one wore bras, whether men fondled or suckled the breasts, and how much one wore wrappers tied around the chest. Of course it went without question that once a woman suckled a child or two, most of the perkiness flew out of the window, and some old women were quite proud of their flat and sagging breasts.

So in all of this, where does the effect of hot water come in?

Positive Social Spaces

I want to use this opportunity to address some of the comments on the Chimamanda post. That post was not meant to offend anyone, but to correct the impression some people got from wrong blogs and sources about what she said the first time around. On this post, a comment actually left a link to one of such wrong information blogs .

It was unfortunate that the comments became embroiled in that which divide us. Maybe I should generally moderate comments on this blog, or have stopped the comments on that post after I saw the way it was going, but I couldn't have guessed how it would end. To anyone who was insulted or offended, I apologize. Adura Ojo, I'm glad to hear you've calmed down, this is for you too.

I may be a hypocrite, but I can never hate myself. Am I perfect? Far from it. Do I try to live a more healthy lifestyle, I do try, but I am also real and true to myself. I eat ice cream and processed foods. I know cell phones and microwaves are radioactive, but I still use them. And yes, I know relaxers may be linked to hair and general health issues, but it is my choice to use them, under advise, at this time.

Dr. Ngozi Okonjo Iweala on CNN with Christiane Amanpour

One thing that stood out to me was that she could say nothing to Alamieyesiegha's pardon. On the corruption  issue generally, she went all emotional. Oh well, what do I really expect her to say?

The transcript is below for those who would prefer to read the interview,